8726. 'And made them heads over the people' means influx into those truths. This is clear from the meaning of the men of vigour, referred to here as those whom Moses made heads over the people, as truths to which good can be joined, dealt with immediately above in 8725; from the representation of Moses as the truth going forth directly from God, dealt with often; and from the meaning of 'making them heads' as inflowing, and so imparting qualities to those truths, in order that the truth directly from God can work through them to lead a member of the Church by means of good. The situation in all this may be recognized from the following explanations that have been given before,

A person who is being regenerated is led first by means of truth that is the truth of faith; but when he has been regenerated he is led by means of good that is the good of charity, 8643, 8648, 8658, 8685, 8690, 8701.

In the first state, when he is led by means of truth, the Lord flows in by means of God's truth that is going forth directly from Himself; but in the second state, when he is led by means of good, the Lord flows in by means of truth that goes forth both directly and indirectly from Him, 8685, 8701. Indirect influx comes no less from the Lord than direct influx does, 8717.

These are the matters described by this verse in the internal sense. The actual influx of the truth coming indirectly from God is meant by the words 'Moses made them heads over the people'.

8690. 'And all the people are standing before you from morning until evening' means that at this time it was the source of every act of the will which those belonging to the spiritual Church possessed, in every state. This is clear from the representation of Israel, to whom 'the people' refers here, as those belonging to the spiritual Church, dealt with above in 8645; from the meaning of 'standing before Moses' as obedience to God's truth, also dealt with above, in 8686, and - since obedience is meant - as an act of the will (obedience springs from the will, but from a will to do the truth because it has been commanded, not out of affection for it; and this will is obedience); and from the meaning of 'from morning until evening' as in every state, inwardly and outwardly, dealt with above in 8687.

[2] The subject here is the first state a person passes through before regeneration. During this state he does good in a spirit of obedience and not as yet out of affection. But this good is truth as done by him, since he does it solely because it has been commanded, and so is still acting under compulsion, not in freedom. It is done by him in freedom when he does it out of affection; for everything that flows from love and affection is free. While a person passes through the first state the Lord flows in and leads him directly; but direct influx from the Lord does not come to be perceived because it is an influx into the inmost parts of a person's being and does not therefore generate affection. But when the Lord's influx is direct and at the same time indirect it does come to be perceived and generate affection, since it is an influx not only into the inmost parts of a person but also into the middle and outermost. This latter state is dealt with in the verses following below in this chapter, the former state in the present verses, where it says that Moses judged alone; see what has been stated above in 8685.